Holly Whitman and Carl Lindford are Chicago-based junior insurance lawyers working at the same firm and a couple in their personal life, although Carl seems more interested in his symbols of prestige, such as his BMW sports car and getting ahead in his career, than he is in Holly. Days before they are to enter court on what could be the case which brings them into the next echelon of the profession, Holly receives news from her irresponsible brother, Everett Whitman, that their father, Wade Whitman, has suffered a heart attack, Wade and Everett still living in their small hometown of Manion Lake, Alabama. Holly, borrowing Carl's car, heads down to Manion Lake expecting to make it back to Chicago in time for the opening arguments of the important case. The trip is also despite Holly and Wade being estranged, due to what generally disagreeable Wade sees as Holly turning her back on family their life in Manion Lake for the pretense of the big city, and Holly believing Wade providing no real parenting, especially following the death of her mother/Wade's wife. While in Manion Lake, Holly is able to reconnect to aspects of her past beyond her family. She also meets recent arrival into Manion Lake, Jay Danville, a war veteran who is drifting in his life following his decommission. There is a mutual attraction between the two, which Jay is up front he will not act upon when he finds out about Carl. Holly will get a clearer picture of her life as she and Wade have a heart-to-heart during what is a community obsession, the recent sighting by others of a record sized bass in the lake, that bass who Wade had deemed the "Queen of Sheba" and who other dedicated recreational fishers in the area always thought was solely Wade's big fish tale.